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Rule of Rose
Rule of Rose (ルールオブローズ, Rūru obu Rōzu) is a survival horror game for the PlayStation 2, developed by Punchline and published in 2006 by Atlus. The game focuses on psychological horror rather then physical fear, and has a distorted storyline and timeline which leaves the player with unanswered questions. It can be and has often been compared with other simular survival horror gaming series such as [http://silenthill.wikia.com/wiki/Silent_Hill_(franchise) Silent Hill], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_Tower_(series) Clock Tower], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_Frame Fatal Frame] and the one-shot game [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunting_Ground Haunting Ground]. Set in 1930s England, a couple of years before the Second World War broke out, the plot centres around a teenaged girl called Jennifer and her cannine companion Brown, as she is forced to work for the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club: a unruly, mistreating society formed by the children of the Rose Garden Orphanage. Overall, Rule of Rose has gained mixed reviews since its release from many game publications. The game has also been the subject of controversy, due to the use of violence against the main adult character inflicted by the children cast and the suggested sexuality amongst its underaged, female characters. Game Plot Further infomation: Characters of Rule of Rose and Themes of Rule of Rose The main story of Rule of Rose focus on nineteen-year-old Jennifer, as she recovers the forgotten memeries of her childhood and remembers the people she knew at the Rose Garden Orphanage. Because the plot is based on Jennifer's memories alone, what really happened is not always obvious to the player since Jennifer's poor memory can alter or distort events and dates. The fact that the plot is only based on Jennifer's point of view also stops the player from seeing all sides of the story as well. What happened before and after the events of the game is never revealed properly, although some hints are given. March 1930 - The Little Princess The game begins with the opening words to the ''Little Princess'' storybook: In the dead of night, Jennifer is sleeping at the back of a bus traveling along a rural country road with a suitcase by her side. At the front of the bus, Joshua is reading the handmade storybook in question. After a moment Joshua wakes Jennifer up, begging her to read the rest of story to him. Head bowed, he hands her the book but to Jennifer's surprise, the rest of the pages are blank. When they come to the bus stop, Joshua suddenly runs out of the bus and down the road. Jennifer follows but the boy is too fast and disappears down the road leading to Strange Hill. The door closes behind the girl and the bus drives away down the road, leaving Jennifer all by herself. With the book still in her hands, Jennifer reads the first part but nothing is written beyond what the player has already hear. After reading the tale, the following text appears into the screen: Following the path after Joshua up Strange Hill, Jennifer can hear "familiar" sounds of a dog barking. Going to the east, Jennifer finds a unlocked shed and finds two items: a fake boarding pass and a dog collar baring the name "Brown." After leaving the shed, Joshua is spotted running away again. Following the boy, Jennifer is lead to the "familiar" Rose Garden Orphanage. Through the bars of the front gate, she sees two children - Diana and Eleanor - wearing bags over their heads, with Diana beating something in a sack with a stick and Eleanor watching. Behind them, Joshua goes into the orphanage. Scared of the bagged girls, Jennifer looks for a different way in. She finds a back gate and uses the boarding pass to be granted enterance. Back at the front of the house, the girls and the sack have gone inside and Jennifer again follows, with the front doors locked behind her. Racing after Joshua up the stairs, Jeniffer finds the Club Room. After finally been able to catch the boy, she reads the story to him. This time, the Little Princess story has one more full page: After the reading, a voice calls out over the speakers, announcing the start of a funeral. Joshua tells Jennifer the funeral is for her "dear friend" before diappearing again. In the inner court, Jennifer finds the grave and "senses something very dear to her was buried" there, and starts to dig the coffin up quickly. Inside the coffin, she finds the beaten sack but before she can do anything Diana, Elealor, Meg and Amanda, all wearing bags, surround her. Diana exclaims how "filthy" Jeniffer is, giving the girls the cue to pour water on her ceremoniously. As this happens, a voice over the speakers tells a pre-flight speach. Jeniffer gets pushed into the coffin and the gang of girls closes her inside, before carrying her away to her unknown fate. April 1930 - The Unlucky Clover Field Out of the coffin and with the sack empty, Jeniffer wakes up and finds herself tied to a metal support beam in a strange room. Over the speakers, Joshua - who is watch the girl from the next room - tells Jeniffer in a cruel, mocking manner that she has been a bad girl and what she has to do: every mouth she has to offer a gift to the Aristocrat Club or he will kill her, because he is the Prince and the Prince rules. After the little talk, Joshua lowers a pair of scissors on a pully and cuts Jenniffer free. After exploring around the unknown area, she finds the door to the Aristocrat Club with a poster pinned upon it: After walking past some windows, Jenniffer discovers that she is in a air ship in the sky. May 1930 - Sir Peter July 1930 - The Bird of Happiness August 1930 - Mermaid Princess September 1930 - The Goat Sisters June - The Gingderbread House October 1930 - Rag Princess Sews November 1930 - The Funeral December 1930 - Stray Dog and the Lying Princess Bad Ending: Good Ending: January 1930 - Once Upon a Time Game Play For most of the game, the player mostly explore the environments and look for items, furthering the plot by accomplishing tasks and experiencing cut-scenes, as well as encountering random enemy battles and a few boss battles. Basic Controls Early in the game, the player encounters Brown, who accompanies Jennifer throughout the game and will respond to the commands; such as tracking items by scent, be commanded to 'stay' and be called to Jennifer's side. Brown cannot attack enemies, but can growl, which distracts some imps and bosses, allowing Jennifer to retreat or land a few blows without fear of retaliation. He can be injured to the point of collapse causing him to stop distracting enemies or tracking an item. Finding Items Brown's ability to locate items is an improtant part of the game, used in every chapter of Rule of Rose to progress further in game and plot. The same system allows the player to find health restoratives and other items which, whilst not essential to complete the game, can help the player. Players select an item from the inventory for Brown to locate another, which is then connected to the 'find' command until changed or removed. When tracking items this way, Brown will lead the player through the environments, scratching at doors in his way for the player to open. Most items are hidden and must be uncovered by Brown, though the player can choose to avoid searching for these items in order to progress quickly. Combat Further Infomation: Weapons of Rule of Rose Combat is almost exclusively melee, with a variety of improvised weapons available, such as kitchen knives and pipes. Jennifer is a timid character making her melee attacks with out a weapon neither powerful nor long-ranged. Health Restorative items are snack foods, candy and scones, which each different types heal varying amounts of health. Animal Bones and meat can be used to restore Brown's health if he becomes injured. Other items - such as marbles and ribbons - have no immediate use, but may be traded with the Aristocrats in order to obtain food, unlockable items and weapons. Unlockables Further infomation: Unlockables found in Rule of Rose Soundtrack ''Main Article: Rule of Rose Soundtrack A 6-track promotional soundtrack CD was produced by Atlus, which was issued to customers from certain retailers when Rule of Rose was pre-ordered. The musical score was composed by Yutaka Minobe, who also composed the music of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skies_of_Arcadia Skies of Arcadia] and some tracks from the Panzer Dragoon Orta soundtrack. The entire score was created without electronic instruments - most of the music was produced by musicians, the Hiroshi Murayama Trio, using pianos and string instruments such as violins and cellos. According to the game's developers, the music was intended to bring a human element to the atmosphere in the game. The theme song of Rule of Rose is intitled A Love Suicide, and was preformed by The Hiroshi Murayama Trio with Hiroshi Murayama on the piano and the vocals were provided by Murayama's wife, Kaori Kondo. Critical Response Reaction to Rule of Rose has been lukewarm, with very mixed reviews. It is generally agreed that the game has an interesting plot, with The AV Club observing that "aside from a few deep curtsies and an unlockable Gothic Lolita costume, the characters are more sinister than sexualised". However the gameplay is widely lambasted as clumsy, archaic, and unrewarding. The press was generally divided upon how much the gameplay detracts from one's ability to enjoy the story itself. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_(magazine) Edge magazine] found neither plot nor gameplay appealing: "It’s just a murky brew of meaningless, exploitative dysfunction filling an empty game, and it leaves a bitter taste." Acegamez, on the other hand, not only admired the game's plot but also found the gameplay appealing if slow, "a wonderful psychological thriller that will draw you in with its bizarrely compelling narrative, atmospheric presentation and thoughtful story-based gameplay". The game has obtained a Metacritic metascore of 59/100 and a GameRankings average ratio of 61%. Controversy In Europe Rule of Rose raised controversies in Poland, where the Ministry of Education raised questions concerning the game's suitability for minors - the game was rated 16+ in Europe - because of the themes of child violence and sexuality. The Ministry informed the official prosecutor's office of possible crime. The then European Union justice minister Franco Frattini attacked the game, saying that it contained "obscene cruelty and brutality". He also called for changes to the PEGI rating system in place across Europe and for government officials to engage in discussions with industry representatives. According to news site The Register, Frattini received a letter from European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, who criticised Frattini's actions: "It is...very unfortunate that my services were not pre-consulted before your letter to the Ministers of Interior was sent out," Reding wrote, reminding him of the commission backed self-regulating ratings system called PEGI that has operated across the EU since 2003. The PEGI system of classification, according to Reding's letter, offers "informed adult choice" without censoring content. "This is in line with the Commission's view that measures taken to protect minors and human dignity must be carefully balanced with the fundamental right to freedom of expression as laid down in the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the European Union,". On 7 March 2007, a group of MEPs presented a Motion for a European Parliament resolution on a ban on the sale and distribution in Europe of the game and the creation of a 'European Observatory on childhood and minors'. The publisher has chosen to cancel the release of the game in the UK following complaints by Frattini and other EU officials, and "largely misleading" commentary from the UK press. It will be released in the rest of Europe. Review copies of the title had already shipped to UK journalists when this was announced. The UK body which had granted the title its 16+ PEGI rating (the Video Standards Council) responded to the press and Frattini's comments: In Australia and New Zealand In November 2006, 505 Games' Australian and New Zealand distributor Red Ant Enterprises confirmed that the release of the game had been cancelled in both territories. Red Ant stated that the game had not been submitted to the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification for approval, without which the game cannot be sold in Australia. Rule of Rose had been scheduled for Australasian release in February 2007. In the USA At E3 2006, Atlus announced that they would be releasing ''Rule of Rose in the United States, following Sony's decision to pass on a US release. This was on the grounds of the game's erotic undertones involving a cast of female minors. Punchline disagreed with this, saying that the sexual themes are only a small part of the game. Video External Links *[http://www.atlus.com/ruleofrose/ Offical Rose of Rose US wedsite] *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_rose Rule of Rose] on Wikipedia *[http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Action-Adventure/Survival_Horror/Rule_of_Rose/ Rule of Rose] on Open Directory Project Category: Media